...Diversity in Workforce Francine Costa October 9, 2011 Saint Leo University Accommodation workforce diversity is a necessity in today’s workforce. With the way that the workforce has changed over the years we need to keep diversity a priority. “No longer dominated by a homogenous group of white males, available talent is now overwhelmingly represented by people from a vast array of background and life experiences” (McInnes, 1999). There are more women and different ethnicity in the workforce that need to be accommodated. We also have to be accommodating to the age of the workforce because there are more and more employees that are working past retirement age now. The amount of women in general has risen over the past decade is astonishing. Not only the amount of single women but the amount of married women has risen as well. Although women are supposed to be treated equally to their counterparts that is not always the case. “By diversifying our workforces, we can give individuals the “break” they need to earn a living and achieve their dreams” (McInnes, 1999). The facts of discrimination are hard to argue with. Reports have shown however that there will be more women in professional jobs that require higher education. The circumstances for ethnicity roles in the workforce have changed quite similarly as it has for women. The number of African Americans, Hispanics, as well as Native Americans has changed although they are still being employed in the low-skill and low-paying...
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...Workforce Diversity Workforce diversity is something that has become normal in most societies, regardless of peoples individual beliefs. With an increase in globalization, people are having no other choice then to accept different races, religions, ethnicities and sexual orientations. No more is our country made up of only Caucasians and African Americans. Diversity is all around us and tolerance is what needs to be learnt by individuals, groups, and companies. The problem is that we all know that workforce diversity is something we can’t avoid, but many of us still try to. When someone doesn’t speak our dialect or eats different food in the lunchroom it can create uncertainty among people who are uncomfortable with “new.” It is people’s natural reactions and human instincts that make accepting new people who are different scary and unnerving. McDonalds, Dell and Boeing are three companies that have managed multicultural organizations well and continue to show other companies what a benefit it can be. Workforce diversity is a term that arose in the 1970’s and hasn’t stopped rearing its head to society. McDonalds was one of the first companies in the seventies that had a department devoted to affirmative action. Pat Harris is currently McDonald’s chief diversity officer overseeing an evolving diversity initiative. She existed with the company during the early stages of workforce diversity. Harris claims that she doesn’t use the word program to describe the company’s objective...
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...Workforce Diversity: Changing the Way You Do Business By: Rob McInnes, Diversity World As we enter the 21st century, workforce diversity has become an essential business concern. In the so-called information age, the greatest assets of most companies are now on two feet (or a set of wheels). Undeniably, there is a talent war raging. No company can afford to unnecessarily restrict its ability to attract and retain the very best employees available. Generally speaking, the term “Workforce Diversity” refers to policies and practices that seek to include people within a workforce who are considered to be, in some way, different from those in the prevailing constituency. In this context, here is a quick overview of seven predominant factors that motivate companies, large and small, to diversify their workforces: As a Social Responsibility Because many of the beneficiaries of good diversity practices are from groups of people that are “disadvantaged” in our communities, there is certainly good reason to consider workforce diversity as an exercise in good corporate responsibility. By diversifying our workforces, we can give individuals the “break” they need to earn a living and achieve their dreams. As an Economic Payback Many groups of people who have been excluded from workplaces are consequently reliant on tax-supported social service programs. Diversifying the workforce, particularly through initiatives like welfare-to-work, can effectively turn tax users into tax payers...
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...Workplace Diversity: Benefits, Challenges and Solutions Workplace diversity refers to the variety of differences between people in an organization. That sounds simple, but diversity encompasses race, gender, ethnic group, age, personality, cognitive style, tenure, organizational function, education, background and more. Diversity not only involves how people perceive themselves, but how they perceive others. Those perceptions affect their interactions. For a wide assortment of employees to function effectively as an organization, human resource professionals need to deal effectively with issues such as communication, adaptability and change. Diversity will increase significantly in the coming years. Successful organizations recognize the need for immediate action and are ready and willing to spend resources on managing diversity in the workplace now. Benefits of Workplace Diversity An organization’s success and competitiveness depends upon its ability to embrace diversity and realize the benefits. When organizations actively assess their handling of workplace diversity issues, develop and implement diversity plans, multiple benefits are reported such as: Increased adaptability Organizations employing a diverse workforce can supply a greater variety of solutions to problems in service, sourcing, and allocation of resources. Employees from diverse backgrounds bring individual talents and experiences in suggesting ideas that are flexible in adapting to fluctuating markets...
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...June 2013 Research Paper: Workforce Diversity Chapter 1: Introduction In recent years, workforce diversity has become an essential business concern. Workforce diversity refers to the important similarities and difference among the employees of organizations. In a diverse workforce, managers are compelled to recognize and handle the similarities and differences that exist among the people in the organization. Employees’ conceptions of work, expectations of rewards from the organization, and practices in relating to others are all influenced by diversity. The importance of renewed interest in diversity is that it helps organizations reap the benefits of all the similarities and differences among workers. Diversity helps bring together ideas from cultures all over the world, in addition to new attitudes and perspectives that can help a company be truly competitive. The workforce is only going to continue to diversify through the years. The change is inevitable, and soon minority groups will become the majority. Managers must first recognize that diversity exists in organizations in order to manage it appropriately. Managers who do not recognize diversity may face an unhappy, disappointed, and underutilized workforce. Chapter 2: Review of the Literature "Diversity Management: Expert-Identified Leading Practices and Agency Examples." MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO, 14 Jan. 2005. Web. 11 June 2013. A high-performance organization relies on a dynamic workforce with the requisite talents...
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...Targeted Workforce Diversity: Strategies to Avoid Adverse Impact Workforce diversity has increasingly become more and more vital to organizations across the world. Many scholars articulated the value that workforce diversity has in enhancing an organization’s longevity, ability to attract the best talent, and increase novelty. According to Ployhart and Holtz (2008), “recruitment and selection are essential mechanisms for increasing diversity” (p. 153), therefore, in order to effectively increase and target diversity, organizations must develop or adapt new strategies of recruiting to avoid adverse impact. The purpose of this paper is to review literature that offers strategic remedies for organizations to consider in developing and maintaining their workforce diversity programs. Workforce Diversity and Diversity Management Practices Diversity has been defined in many ways and can have multiple meanings depending upon the objective for which it is sought to be defined. For the purposes of this paper, workforce diversity is defined as policies and practices that seek to include people within a workforce who are considered to be, in some way, different from those in the general population (McInnes, 1999). Knouse (2008) defines diversity management as the ability to maximize the advantages of organizational member diversity and minimize the problems. One can make the case for diversity several ways (Cox, 1993). It is the legal thing to do; it is the moral thing to do;...
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...WORKFORCE DIVERSITY :CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES In the global scenario, jobs tends to shift from developed nations toward the countries which have lower labour cost which gave the firms an additional advantage. Globalization focuses on differences among people from different countries whereas workforce diversity deals with the differences among people within given countries. Workforce diversity acknowledges a workforce of women and men, person with variety of physical or psychological differences and people who have the differences in age and sexual orientation. The two factors which are going to effect the Indian labour’s force and is quite predictable at present are: - More women in the workforce and urbanization and increase in the populations of Indians who are in 30’s or 40’s. When compared to 90’s todays women are much more likely to be full –time employed, have higher education and earn salary/wages comparable or even higher than those of men. We all are not the same .The responsibility of mangers in an organization is to reconcile the differences to get the most of their employees. The effective management of diversity increases an organization access to the widest possible pool of skills, ideas, abilities. It is the responsibility of the managers that the differences among employees doesn’t lead to miscommunication, misunderstanding and conflict. In India, the challenges faced by the middle-aged managers is that the country has the largest youth population...
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...Workforce diversity (L9, chapter 14: 34) Benefits diverse workforce for organisations in terms of creativity and so on, different approach diversity management, how might be diversity, Ethnicity in job applications * Fictional CVs, online applications * Entry-level jobs * Same CV, different names * Name as indicator of ethnicity What is diversity? Diversity encompasses any characteristic used to differentiate one person from others Primary dimensions: age ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation … Secondary dimensions: educational attainment, geographic location, income, marital status, religious beliefs … The EEO approach The creation of conditions to ensure that staff have an equal chance to seek & obtain e/ment & promotion Governments – legally driven approach * Anti-discrimination legislation * Affirmative action act 1986 – equal opportunity for women in the workplace act 1999 (changed name which better reflect the purpose of the legislation). Anti-discrimination * AU: federal & state / territory legislation * Discrimination: unfair treatment of a person or minority group based on prejudice(偏见). * Direct discrimination: Person with attribute treated less favourably than person without attribute. * Indirect discrimination: Policies/practices which appear neutral but which have the effect of excluding or treating unfavourably groups of people on basis of attributes. Affirmative action Programs that require...
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...Diversity in the Workforce Raul Rios Jr. Columbia College Thesis Statement What are the different aspects of diversity within the US workforce and how might it be effectively managed? What positive and negative factors are derived from diversity training? This research paper aims at answering this particular question. In order to do this, the paper will look at the challenges of diversity in the workplace from many different angles. Abstract This paper first explains what diversity really is and the impact it has on today’s workforce. It also explores why diversity needs to be managed in workplaces in the United States. It then discusses the positive and negative impacts of managing diversity (mainly diversity training). This paper identifies some of the major challenges associated with managing diversity. This research paper concluded with some recommendations on how to manage diversity within a workplace. Diversity in the Workforce Changes in the US Workforce Make Diversity an Organizational and Managerial Issue The United States has historically been a land of the immigrants; it continues to be the same today. People from al around the world come to settle in the US. United States has people from ever ethnic backgrounds, whether those people are in the majority or minority. The diversity of America does not only encompass different races of people, but many other aspects which differentiate people from each other. Diversity can refer to people who practice...
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...Workforce diversity/secondary or deep level diversity Michelle Asha Cooper and Arthur L. Coleman, on their article “The Economic Imperative Of Achieving Diversity”, published on Forbes.com (04.27.2010), bring a new perspective to “workforce diversity.” Employers in the present prefer employees with talents that are central for America’s longstanding financial achievement, such as “critical thinkers, effective communicators, ethical decision-makers and effective team members” between others, according to the article. With such high expectations from part of the employers, for the present and the future, it is only needed to realize that our educational system needs to live up to the demands. Educating our future workers properly is very important, especially if we pay attention to current demographic trends, which is much more diverse than in past decades, which will include a workforce with low-income and racial/ethnic minorities. As noted in the article, according to the U.S. Census calculations, by 2050 racial/ethnic minorities will consist of 55% population of working age, with 30% Latinos, 12% African-Americans, and 12% Asian-Americans. In the higher education system diversity usually reflects students from different backgrounds, perspectives and characteristics that are beneficial to the educational experience , not only academically but also socially, and this enhances America’s economic race in the world. Works Cited Education: “The Economic Imperative Of...
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...The workforce is not the same today as it was back about 50 years ago. It has changed becoming more diverse and has a culture of acceptance as far as age, race, disability, and gender are concerned. Today’s workforce reflects a diverse group of people that can be found in many companies across the United States (U.S). The workforce today is made up of single parents, working mothers, mothers who have returned to the workforce, dual-career families, minorities, older workers, persons with disabilities, immigrants, and young persons with limited education or skills (text). How the workforce has become diverse has been a long process of people fighting for their rights. This paper will discuss three laws that had an impact on creating a diverse workforce. The main features of each law will be identified. This paper will also explain how these laws are critical to the success of the army. Three laws that have had an impact on creating a diverse workforce include the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, and the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990. There was a great social unrest in the 1960’s. Ever since then, the federal government has had an active involvement in preventing racial discrimination in the workplace. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, specifically Title VII, prohibits all forms of discrimination in the workplace. This includes a person’s race, religion or gender. This law has helped to change the workplace because this law...
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...……………………………………………………………………………………….7 Introduction to organization Diversity is a concept used point out the differences between groups and people. These Differences include gender, age, race, religions and etc... Workforce diversity and performance in bank of America is a very big issues that we are going to decorticate. As we know bank of America is one of the largest banking institutions in the world. They operate in almost every area in the banking industry from commercial banking to investment banking. It has a very large customer base and clients in the United States and worldwide. Bank of America is a company that has a very strong diversity program; they employ people from all around the world. They put a lot of effort in keeping all their employees in better space and good conditions to enable their well-being and so that they can keep on performing. We have the role to evaluate how the company is working toward keeping their very diverse environment sane and without conflicts. We also have to provide ways the company can improve from the state they are now. Bank of America has over 48 million customers worldwide. Bank of America is considered as one of the leading wealth management companies in the world and is also considered as the leader in the investment banking in world and trades for many companies and governments in the world. As a major global we expect them to have a very strong diversity program within their...
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...Discrimination in the U.S. workforce Anyaoha Chidebe Chioma canyaoha0874@student.bristoluniversity.edu Bristol University Course No: BUS 401 – Business Ethics April 28, 2016 INTRODUCTION This study examines age discrimination in employment and the legal and practical challenges that managers confront in seeking to establish and maintain a legal and ethical workplace. This article first provides a general introduction to Civil Rights laws in the United States; and then furnishes a detailed legal analysis of age discrimination laws in the United States. Data dealing with the aging of the workforce, the unemployment rates of older workers, as well as the number of age discrimination lawsuits in the United States is furnished. Persistent racial inequality in employment, housing, and other social domains has renewed interest in the possible role of discrimination. Contemporary forms of discrimination, however, are often subtle and covert, posing problems for social scientific conceptualization and measurement. WHAT IS DISCRIMINATION? Discrimination is treating, or proposing to treat, someone unfavorably because of a personal characteristic protected by law. According to its most simple definition, racial discrimination refers to unequal treatment of persons or groups on the basis of their race or ethnicity. In defining racial discrimination, many scholars and legal advocates distinguish between differential treatment and...
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...Effect of workforce diversity in the performance of an organization Name: Institution: 1.0 Introduction Diversity in the workplace has for a longtime been viewed as a challenging issue to manage within an organization. The management therefore takes quite some time to ensure that the employees get along. This has to be done to enable every single employee feel engaged within the organization. The website identified for this study is Apple Company website. The company clearly highlights the reason it identifies diversity among its staff. The website also highlights on what it aims to benefit from a diverse force based on its quest for more innovation. When the term diversity is searched a series of plans the company has for diversity pop up (Apple, 2016). For instance the plans it has for the present workforce, future plans, job creation by identifying diversity, its policy on diversity and inclusion and diversity based jobs. The material on diversity is related to the organization’s plans for innovation as it targets to have a workforce that have different ideas that will enable it come up with unique products. The mission and goals are all inclined with the plans the company has for a diverse workforce (Apple, 2016). Potential employees and customers will be able to know by logging onto the website the immense opportunities the organization has and will not hesitate working with them. The information on diversity is current because the management has put...
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... 6.2 Data Protection Act……….……………………………..7 7. Time Plan……………………………………………………………..8 8. References…………………………………………………………….9 1. Introduction This paper focuses on workforce diversity management by reviewing past studies and theories and applying it to the UK retail sector. ‘ The basic concept of managing diversity accepts that the workforce consists of a diverse population of people consisting of visible and non-visible differences… and is founded on the premise that harnessing these differences will create a productive environment in which everyone feels valued, where all talents are fully utilized and in which organizational goals are met’ (Torrington et al, 2011: 476). 2. Literature Review According to Ellis and Sonnenfeld (1994) and Brenda (2010), the main purpose of diversity management and its primary function is to increase employee performance and to avoid quick-fix solutions (Trennery and Paradies, 2012) allowing maximizing advantages and minimizing disadvantages of a diverse workforce. Diversity was usually expressed only in the form of age, gender and ethnicity until the middle of the 20th century (Kosek et al, 2005), viewed simply as an obligation to follow the human rights legislations imposed by the government, However, due to globalization and demographic changes the diversity...
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